UK football club launches bamboo uniforms

Forest Green Rovers is already recognised by FIFA and UEFA as the world’s greenest football club but they have now gone a step further.

The club has unveiled its dazzling new uniform, a world first made with bamboo!

The new kit features zebra print and the shirts are the first football shirts on the planet to be made with bamboo.

This year’s uniforms use a 50% bamboo mix which significantly reduces the use of plastic. Working with its uniform partner PlayerLayer, the intention is to further develop this revolutionary approach to create 100% sustainable high-performance sportswear.

This season’s new home jersey is resplendent in a striking green and black zebra pattern, and the away jersey adopts a black-on-black zebra look. The home and away design will last for two seasons.

Both jerseys feature FGR’s internet-infamous three stars, which signify the club’s ambition to reach the UK Championship division, the highest in English football, with one star coloured in to mark promotion to the Football League in 2017, and two greyed out to represent the steps needed to reach its goal. The club came close to filling in another star last season, narrowly missing out on promotion to League One.

FGR’s support of its conservation partner Sea Shepherd also features in the new design, with the marine charity’s iconic skull and crossbones on the back of every shirt. For the first time, Oatly (the club’s plant-based milk partner) have sponsored the shorts with their logo appearing on the back of every pair.

The club will also launch an all-new third uniform in partnership with Sea Shepherd next month in tribute to the organisation’s work, and as part of a major fundraising initiative instigated by the club.

Dale Vince, Chairman, Forest Green Rovers, states, “We’ve taken inspiration from nature with our new kit, from the zebra stripes to the sustainable materials. I was pretty shocked when I found out that modern sportswear is actually made from plastic, that feels wrong to me, not just from the sustainability point of view, but for performance too.”

“Together with PlayerLayer, we’re making strides towards a new approach for football kit–this year’s 50% Bamboo is a stake in the ground and we plan to move beyond that. The aim is 100% sustainable, high-performance material.”

Roderick Bradley, Founder, PlayerLayer, commented, “We are privileged to work with such a forward thinking, creative and rebellious football club. We are developing some completely natural fabrics which will change the sports clothing industry forever.”

Fans can pre-order the new FGR home and away uniforms online here with online deliveries starting Monday 15th July. Shipping to the US and Canada is available.

ABOUT FOREST GREEN ROVERS

Founded in 1889 and based at The New Lawn stadium in Gloucestershire. FGR has been described by FIFA as “the world’s greenest football club.”

Currently in League Two, FGR brings together football and environmental consciousness in a way no other football, or sports club in the world is doing – from its fully organic pitch and vegan matchday menu to its stadium solar panels and electric vehicle charge points.

FGR is the first vegan football club in the world, and the only one on the planet to be certified carbon neutral by the United Nations. In the 19/20 season, FGR will play in a kit made 50% from bamboo therefore reducing the reliance on plastics in sportswear. FGR’s chairman and owner, Dale Vince is also a Climate Champion for the UN.

You can find out more about FGR and its green initiatives on the club website.